University of Hasselt 3.68

Hasselt University is a university with campuses in Hasselt and Diepenbeek, Belgium. It was officially established in 1971, as the Limburgs Universitair Centrum . On June 15, 2005 the university changed its name to Hasselt University.Currently, the universities of Hasselt and Maastricht work together as the Transnational University Limburg . Together with Hogeschool PXL, it established the Limburg Association of Higher Education .The rector of the university currently is Prof. Luc de Schepper, the vice rectors are Prof. Karin Coninx and Prof. Jean-Michel Rigo.HistoryHasselt University was officially established in 1971 as ‘Limburgs Universitair Centrum’, but it was not until 1973 that the university – literally – opened its doors and welcomed its first students. Until 1991 the university was, in fact, an undergraduate level university institution with two faculties: the Faculty of Medicine-Dentistry and the Faculty of Sciences . In 1991 the university expanded the reach of its curriculum by transforming the Limburg Business School, an independent university college which was located on the same campus in Diepenbeek, into the Faculty of Applied Economics. At the same time, Hasselt University became entitled to organize postgraduate programmes and award doctoral degrees in its three faculties.International collaborationsIn 2001 the Flemish and Dutch Ministers of Education signed an International Treaty by which the transnational University Limburg was founded. Academic staff from Hasselt University and from nearby Maastricht University since then jointly undertake research activities and offer degree programmes in Life Sciences and Computer Sciences.